Dream Chelsea line-up for Nottingham Forest trip as Romeo Lavia starts but three stars drop out

Romeo Lavia impressed in his cameo appearance against Liverpool (Image: Robin Jones)

Chelsea are back in action later this week with the Blues making the trip to Nottingham Forest on Saturday afternoon.

The second international break of the season is almost over. Not quite, but almost. Chelsea have the opportunity to move into the top four should they secure three points at the City Ground, albeit their status in the Champions League places could be short lived dependant on other results.

However, the Blues could be without a host of key players for this weekend's clash. Enzo Fernandez suffered a knee injury while on international duty with Argentina and has since returned to England, while Reece James pulled out of the England squad with a slight problem, although it is not thought to be serious .

Enzo Maresca will be desperate for two such significant players to be available to him for the match this weekend, although he is unlikely to risk them if they are not 100% ready to feature, especially with such a busy and intense period on the horizon. There is hope that the likes of Tosin Adarabioyo and Andrey Santos will return to the squad, judging by Maresca's comments pre-international break.

Tosin has missed Chelsea's last four matches with a calf problem, while Santos was unavailable for the wins over Benfica and Liverpool due to a muscular issue. Wesley Fofana is expected to return with the Frenchman recovering from the concussion he suffered last month at Lincoln City, while Trevoh Chalobah is eligible once again after serving his one-match suspension.

Romeo Lavia is yet to start for the Blues this season but is in contention to do just that in Nottingham on Saturday afternoon. The 21-year-old midfielder is so instrumental to the Chelsea side when he is fit but that has been the main issue for the Belgian during his time at Stamford Bridge.

"With Romeo, we are trying to do exactly the same that we have done with Wes [Fofana] and with Reece [James]. Now we are in a much better position for both of them.

"The target with Romeo is that we can help him and we can bring him in the same condition as Wes and Reece, where they can play games. As you can see now, Reece is playing more games without problems. Hopefully, we can do the same with Romeo."

Plenty of Chelsea fans will be desperate to see Josh Acheampong from the start again. The 19-year-old was so impressive up against Alexander Isak in the Liverpool win earlier in the month and has made a real claim to Maresca for a start in Nottingham this weekend.

There were fears that Acheampong had picked up an injury after he limped off in the second half of the victory at Stamford Bridge. Though fears have since been eased with the Cobham graduate featuring in England Under-21s' 4-0 victory over Moldova on Friday.

Estevao Willian will be hoping to make the first XI in Nottingham as the Brazilian looks to continue his fine recent form. The 18-year-old winger scored the winning goal - in what was his first strike for Chelsea - in the victory over Liverpool and then brought the resulting confidence into the international break, where he bagged a double in Brazil's thrashing of South Korea last week.

Dream Chelsea line-up vs Forest : Sanchez; James, Acheampong, Chalobah, Cucurella; Lavia, Caicedo; Estevao, Fernandez, Neto; Joao Pedro

Changes from Liverpool : Chalobah for Badiashile, Lavia for Gusto and Estevao for Garnacho